Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[vers la flamme]

Well, the much lamented Fritz Wunderlich (who appears in the legendary Klemperer recording of DLvdE) apparently was quite fond of his drink. The talk in musical circles in Vienna was that the tragic fall that led to his untimely dead was caused by the fact that he was completely inebriated when it happened. 

Wow!! I was actually listening to the Wunderlich recording of Der Trunkene when I wrote that post. I had no idea. He has long been my favorite tenor performer of the work, but I will have to listen again very soon. That is chilling.

Thanks Biffo & Mahlerian for the thoughts on DKL. I am curious to hear Nagano (which has been recommended to me before, but I didn't realize it was a "definitive" version as such) as well as Chailly. The fact that Mahler himself didn't sanction this version doesn't bother me.

[Biffo]

Wow!! I was actually listening to the Wunderlich recording of Der Trunkene when I wrote that post. I had no idea. He has long been my favorite tenor performer of the work, but I will have to listen again very soon. That is chilling.

Thanks Biffo & Mahlerian for the thoughts on DKL. I am curious to hear Nagano (which has been recommended to me before, but I didn't realize it was a "definitive" version as such) as well as Chailly. The fact that Mahler himself didn't sanction this version doesn't bother me.

Nagano is only the 'definitive' version of Mahler's original from ca. 1880. The revised work dates from 1898 onwards - Mahler revised it at least three times (see Mahlerian also). The Chailly version is excellent but I only have it as a reissue (Decca 2CD) and it has minimal notes.

[André]

Andre, you were wondering about the 2020 Amsterdam Mahler Festival.

It has been cancelled due to the pandemic and social distancing.

People had been working on this for two years, organising things, and it is all gone. Imagine how that must feel...

It's really sad. The article I shared about the 1920 Mahler Festival was actually much longer. I cut the part about all the logistics and preparation that went into it. Amazing commitment, almost fanatical devotion to the cause, ordinary folks participation, etc. From flowers to tramway stop announcements, invitation cards, hotel and private house accommodations, city tours etc.

I'm sure the 2020 edition would have been something to remember...

[vers la flamme]

^Damn, so they've cancelled it outright? No chance they'll just push it back a year?

[Marc]

Haitink's well-publicised lack of interest in nr 8 cannot have helped in the reputation of his recordings of said work.

His Xmas matinee recording of the piece is IMHO terrific, except of course for Gwyneth Jones' infamous glitch in the last minute of the piece.

If only it were a Xmas matinee performance.
Then it would have been part of the Xmas matinee DVD/CD boxset(s).

Haitink never finished the Mahler cycle for Christmas, because of his goodbye in 1988. He did the 8th as his farewell concert though, April 1988.
As a performance, it was indeed much better and intense than the studio recording imho, despite the glitches. I must admit that I have never been that fond of Jones' voice though, but that is, of course, a matter of preference(s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57d8qvZt_g

[André]

ThNks for that link, Marc ! I wasn't aware of its existence.

[vers la flamme]

Is this 1951 performance by Klemperer w/ the Concergebouw the fastest Resurrection on record, at 71 minutes? I really love his classic performance with the Philharmonia, but I'm curious to hear this one now.

[Biffo]

Is this 1951 performance by Klemperer w/ the Concergebouw the fastest Resurrection on record, at 71 minutes? I really love his classic performance with the Philharmonia, but I'm curious to hear this one now.

A different issue of what must be the same performance (Guild Historical) has a timing of 77:08 - a couple of minutes faster than the Philharmonia and BRSO performances.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Apr06/Mahler2_Klemperer_GHCD2210.htm

[vers la flamme]

Yes, looks like that is the same performance. Odd, I wonder which of these listed track times is wrong...:



Comparing this with the mp3 tracks that are on Amazon, it seems to line up. I'll have to listen and find out!

[André]

The Guild disc includes introduction and conclusion comments from the radio announcer (the performance was broadcast) as well as some applause, but i don't know if it adds up to the timing difference.

[Biffo]

The same performance on Decca Historical, available on Spotify, has a timing of 71 mins!

[knight66]

I saw this earlier:



Couldn't find much more information on it, but looks like clearly a different recording, with the BBC Symphony, a younger Boulez.

Thanks for the word on Wit. I'm a big fan of his. I'll have to check it out some more.

Coming very late to this. The recording is live, it was a broadcast BBC Prom. I was in the then SNO Choris. I have the recording and the engineering is surprisingly good with the epic scale coming across. There is one serious blot: the tenor Alberto Remedios sings very well in part one, but really does not manage at all in part 2. Boulez seemed very disengaged, but the performance has great flexibility and he gets a lot of the detail to be heard.

Mike

[ritter]

Coming very late to this. The recording is live, it was a broadcast BBC Prom. I was in the then SNO Choris. I have the recording and the engineering is surprisingly good with the epic scale coming across. There is one serious blot: the tenor Alberto Remedios sings very well in part one, but really does not manage at all in part 2. Boulez seemed very disengaged, but the performance has great flexibility and he gets a lot of the detail to be heard.

Mike

I have that recording but, as mentioned earlier in this thread, still haven't listened to it (got it at a sale of one of the largest CD collections in Spain, after its owner had died—my friends and I spent hours there, unearthing some really rare, long OOP stuff). It was the Boulez completist in me, rather than the fan of Mahler's Eighth—which I must admit I'm not—that led me to buy it. When I listen to it, I'll be able to say I know (virtually, at least) someone who's singing in it, Mike! 

Cheers,

[André]

Cross posted from the WAYL2 thread:

Mahler, symphony no 8. Bernard Haitink, RCOA, choirs and soloists. From Haitink's farewell concert as RCOA Music director in 1988. While a few minor mishaps occur here and there, this is a great, great performance. Typical Haitink, which is what I was looking for, with a more active percussion section and heftier choral forces than in the 1971 recording. Fantastic brass playing.

Thanks, Marc!

[Herman]

If only it were a Xmas matinee performance.
Then it would have been part of the Xmas matinee DVD/CD boxset(s).

Haitink never finished the Mahler cycle for Christmas, because of his goodbye in 1988. He did the 8th as his farewell concert though, April 1988.
As a performance, it was indeed much better and intense than the studio recording imho, despite the glitches. I must admit that I have never been that fond of Jones' voice though, but that is, of course, a matter of preference(s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57d8qvZt_g

Maybe it was not a Matinee. I have a hard time, though, picturing this as his final Mahler performance as Chief Conductor. Wasn't this Mahler 9, at the end of which Haitink theatrically let go of his baton? One can tell Haitink is exhausted at the end of M8, which is of course a very complex work to conduct, big orchestra, a busload of singers and the entire choir, even though the music is fairly straightforward

It's virtually impossible to get a impeccable line-up of singers for a live performance of pf a work as taxing as M8, and in this case Jones was the weak spot. Although I recall the tenor coming in for some comments, too.

I saw these concerts in real time (though not in the Concertgebouw, tickets used to be sold out long in advance). They're wonderful performances and of course great ways of seeing again the seventies, eighties bunch, like 1st trumpet Peter Masseurs (the silver-haired guy), Julia Studebaker in the horn line up, Viktor Liberman (M8) or Jaap van Zweden (M9) on 1st violin and the intriguing violist Matthias Maurer, and many many others.

[André]

I can forgive Jones' difficult balance beam near fall at the end, since she sings powerfully and almost in tune before that. But that tenor...! Strained on top (where Mahler mercilessly pushes him again and again) would be a charitable way to describe it. But in the end those glitches matter a lot less than the cumulative effect of a great performance.

[Herman]

I can forgive Jones' difficult balance beam near fall at the end, since she sings powerfully and almost in tune before that. But that tenor...! Strained on top (where Mahler mercilessly pushes him again and again) would be a charitable way to describe it. But in the end those glitches matter a lot less than the cumulative effect of a great performance.

I agree. It's my go to.

[vers la flamme]

Well, I think I've descended, at least temporarily, back into full-swing Mahler Mania. I've listened to two symphonies and two song cycles today, mostly Klemperer and Walter. The former is becoming possibly my favorite Mahlerian conductor and the latter is fascinating to me, and I must hear more at once. I'm thinking of getting his 9th with the Columbia SO (the greatest Hollywood-soundtrack-musicians pickup orchestra ever...?) even though I have 4 other recordings (that I am neglecting). I want to hear more of what he has to say in Mahler's music. He was after all the composer's protégé, and premiered the 9th and DLvdE.

I still want to hear more of Haitink's Mahler, too, but I think I can wait for good deals to come around. For some reason, at the moment, I'm only really interested in the late works, the Wunderhorn symphonies, & the song cycles. I haven't had any urge to listen to symphonies 5, 6 or 7 (or 3 for that matter). But I can't get enough of 1, 2, 4, 8 & Das Lied.

I'm glad to be back in a receptive phase for Mahler. I went months without listening to his music at all. But I'm afraid now my enthusiasm will be at the expensive of other composers. 

[André]

Go for that Walter 9. It's one of the great Mahler recordings, even sonically. Some prefer their Mahler more angst-ridden, but Walter's effusive embrace is heart-rending.

[vers la flamme]

Go for that Walter 9. It's one of the great Mahler recordings, even sonically. Some prefer their Mahler more angst-ridden, but Walter's effusive embrace is heart-rending.

That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. There is a kind of simple tenderness in Walter's conducting of Mahler that I find appealing.